24-hours of Pride and Disappointment

The Dino 24-hour race started at noon on Saturday. The venue was fantastic in Versailles State Park . It was a big park with a lake, campgrounds, pool, and showers. Perfect for this event.

Our TA was definitely the best one there. We were pimpin' thanks to the Ghisallo tents, Christmas lights, boat batteries, inverters, tools, bike stands, stoves, and healthy supply of chef-boy-ardee, soup, and cheetos!

Racers had to stage their bikes in front of the pool. To separate the field, racers had to do a Lemans start with either their front wheel or seatpost in their hands. Then re-assembly was required before the riding could begin.

The 13-mile course started with a 7-8 minute steady climb. Not too steep at all, but consistent with short plateaus tricking you to think you were at the top. Once you got to the top, you were treated to some awesome sweetness of single-track that knocks the socks off anything we have around St. Louis ! In fact, the rest of the course was absolutely amazing!

Now for the results…

I can not tell you how proud I am of my woman! Going into the Dino 24-hour race she was hoping for some women to race against as motivation to keep going for 24 hours. Well, she got her wish as there was one other female in the 24-hour solo division. BUT, she was a pro racer and had a 4-person support team, RV, and trailer to help her. With the pro woman putting time into the entire field of racers (men too!) Karen’s race became one of pure persistence and stamina. And if you know Karen, this is her strength! She went on to complete 10 laps over the 24-hour period taking short breaks between most laps to fuel and rest.

She did all 10 laps on her singlespeed and looked strong the whole damn time!
What a great season she’s been having. She’s got the Endurance Womens class in the Midwest Fat Tire Series locked up. She also won the womens class at Rapture and the Berryman Duathlon.

I on the other hand, I had a very disappointing experience. I performed a triple-lundy over the handlebars on a couple strategically placed logs next to the trail on lap 3. I really didn’t feel hurt at all and jumped right back on the bike to keep going. I was averaging about 1:10 on my first 4 laps and doing well to keep my avg heartrate about 142 to make sure I was in it for the long-haul. I kept taking short breaks between laps to change bottles and refill the gel flask. It wasn’t until I hit lap 7 that the pain really set in and I slowed way down. It was pure darkness by now and my neck was really bothering me with the added weight of my light on my helmet. My knees were screaming from hitting them on my bars when I went over and a good headache had set in. Mitch blew by me like I was standing still and so did many other racers. I just wasn’t having fun anymore! I finished lap #7 and sat for awhile talking with Kerry Rascher (he was there kickin’ it on the 12-hour) trying to figure out whether I should try another lap or quit. It was about 9:30pm and I made the decision to quit.

I showered then did my best to support Karen, Mitch, and Greg. But had to duck into the tent to get some sleep about 1am.

The predicted rain finally came about 8am on Sunday. It started very light for the first hour then got a little heavier between 9 – 10 when most racers were finishing their last laps. The crew fought the mud to get their last laps in before time limits made it unnecessary to start another lap.

There were 12 men in the 24-solo category:
Mitch got 2nd
Greg got 4th
I wound up 8th – not sure how that happens?!

Mitch enjoying his post-race OJ. I think he ate the McD's biscuit in one bite!

Kerry took home 4th out of 6 in the 12-hour and was very pleased with his first 12-hour race. Especially, given his 2009 injuries. Well done!

All-in-all, It was a fun weekend with everyone in an awesome atmosphere of mountain bike racing!